There’s a corner of our dining room that tells our family’s story as well as any photo album.

In the beginning, it was just a corner, and the built-in hutch held an assortment of glassware and pretty dishes. But time passed, a baby was born and before we knew it, there was a toddler in our house. We moved the glassware to the second shelf, out of the reach of little hands, and soon the bottom shelf was filled with board books like “Ten Apples Up on Top” and “Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?” We put foam alphabet tiles on the hardwood floor to provide a cushy place for our little reader to sit.

Another couple of years went by, and the now-preschooler was joined first by one baby brother, then another. The board books were still on the bottom, but the glassware now was crowded into the top two shelves so the books with paper pages had a place. A beanbag chair joined the foam letters on the floor, so big sister (or Mom) could sit in the chair and read to the littles. I spent many a Friday afternoon, exhausted, sitting in that beanbag chair with a baby in each arm, counting the minutes until my husband came home.

The babies in my arms grew, and became toddlers and preschoolers themselves. The foam letters were packed away, the beanbag relocated to the family room. Giant floor puzzles of the United States and the solar system joined the paper-page books on the second shelf. This time of my life was the “Where’s teddy?” period, since I spent half of my waking hours searching for lost teddy bears. Finally, inspiration struck: The corner formerly known as the reading corner would now be Teddy Corner. We trained the boys to leave their bears there in the morning and after naptime, so they always knew where they were. Teddy and Kaloo occupied that corner for nearly two years.

There comes a time in life, however, when childish things must be set aside, or at least banished to one’s own room. Teddy and Kaloo were told they had to stay on the boys’ beds during the day, and Teddy Corner became the reading corner once again. We added a tray table to hold the books we’d checked out from the library, and by this time, all the glassware had either been packed away or crammed onto the top shelf of the hutch. The middle two shelves were filled with all kinds of games, from Candy Land to Monopoly. Board books were given away, save for a few sentimental titles, and picture books with paper pages reigned supreme on the bottom shelf.

And then, another member joined our family. Black and shaggy, she needed somewhere to lay her head at night, and the corner was the perfect size for her bed. The reading corner became the spot for the dog crate, and remains so to this day.

Page 2 of 2 - Someday, the books will be packed away, the games relegated to storage or Goodwill. Someday my shelves will again display pretty glassware, and, I suppose, there won’t be the need for a dog crate in the corner. In the meantime, the family games and children’s books are within easy reach, and the top of the crate serves as an additional shelf. It’s a functional look, if a bit chaotic, and I’m OK with that.